The Home Office responded to the user’s Freedom of Information request with a generic response and treated the request as a general enquiry (as the user had not specifically requested the release of information, but instead requested clarification of Home Office policy).

For ease the actual response from The Home Office is below:

Dear Mr Syal,

Thank you for your email of 8 November to the Home Office Freedom of Information team seeking clarification of whether dependent parents can qualify for residence documentation under the Surinder Singh route. Your email has been passed to this team to respond to, as we are responsible for policy guidance on European Economic Area (EEA) nationals and their family members. I understand the Freedom of Information team has advised you that your query is being dealt with as a general policy enquiry, since you are seeking clarification of the policy rather than requesting the release of documents or recorded information held by the Home Office.

I can confirm that the Surinder Singh route applies to direct family members, as defined by regulation 7(1)(a)-(c) of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006 (‘the EEA Regulations’), provided they meet the requirements set down in regulation 9 of the EEA Regulations.

Direct family members for these purposes are:

the spouse or civil partner of the British citizen, provided they lived with the British citizen in the EEA state in which the British citizen was exercising free movement rights;

direct descendants (children, grandchildren) of the British citizen, or of the British citizen’s spouse or civil partner, provided they are aged under 21 or dependent on the British citizen or the British citizen’s spouse/civil partner; and

dependent direct relatives in the ascending line (i.e. parents and grandparents) of the British citizen, or of the British citizen’s spouse or civil partner.

Therefore, a financially dependent parent of a British citizen can qualify under Surinder Singh/regulation 9, provided the British citizen was engaged in genuine and effective employment or self-employment in another EEA state before returning to the UK.